Method of producing mouthpieces on cigarettes.



UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

LEWIS H. SONDHEIM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF PRODUCING MOUTHPIECES ON CIGARETTES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 709,369, dated September 16, 1902.

Application filed January 31, 1902. $erial No. 91,997. (No specimens.)

To all whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, LnwrsI-I. SONDHEIM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful-Method of Producing Mouthpieces on Cigarettes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to the production of mouthpieces on open-ended cigarettes, cigars, or cheroots (hereinafter referred to as cigarettes) by coating or impregnating the wrapper at one end with a substance in a fluid state which will harden on the wrapper and become impervious tomoisture; and the special object of the invention is to efiect the application of the coating or impregnating material to the wrapper without permitting said material to enter the cigarette at the end or contact with the tobacco exposed at said end. I attainthis objectby temporarily closing the end of the cigarette by applying,affixing, or contacting therewith a suitable covering to efiect a closure and prevent entrance of the coating or impregnating substance,

then dipping the cigarette with the said covering into the coating or impregnating substance a sufficient depth to form the mouthpiece, and then after withdrawing the cigarette from the said substancere moving the temporary covering which formed the closure of the cigarette end.

The means employed to effect a temporary closure of the cigarette may vary both as to the nature of the material employed for the purpose and in the form which is given to the said material. I prefer, however, to employ a metal closure and to give it the form of a flat plate, which has some ad vantages, as will hereinafter appear.

Reference is to be had to the'accompanyiug drawings, showing one form of apparatus for carrying out my method.

Similar figures of reference represent corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus with the cigarettes therein ready for-dipping. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the cigarette ends dipping into the coating or impregnating material, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a cigarette with the mouthpiece produced thereon.

In carrying out my invention by the aid of the apparatus shown the tank is partially filled with thecoating or impregnating substance. Aholder is adapted to receive a series of cigarettes 20, and a frame receives the holder 15 and is provided with a series of supported plates 30, which serve to cover and close tightly the ends of the cigarettes. The holder 15 and frame 25 may have at the sides mating shoulders 16 and 26, respectively, so that the holder will rest on the frame and the two may be moved as a unitary structure in the dipping process.

The cigarettes 20 are received in recesses 17 at the under side of the holder 15, and when held in said recesses the cigaretteswill project from the holder a slightly greater distance than the distance from the plane of the plates to the shoulders 26 on the frame 25,

whereby in the placing of the holder 15 on the said frame the lower or outer ends of the cigarettes will contact with the plates 30 before the shoulders 16 and 26.. contact to support the holder. The result of this :is that the plates and cigarettes are slightly pressed together to efiectively close the cigarette ends. To further insure the proper contact between the end of the cigarette-wrapper and the plate, the latter is moistened, so as to cause the moistening of the wrapper end, which results in a more eifective contact and tighter closure of the cigarette.

The plates 30 are supported from below by standards 31, which are carried by the bottom bar of the frame 25 and are secured to said plates at the center, leaving the peripheries of the plates free. This arrangement of the plates and. the fact that the said plates are fiat and polished results in the ready draining off of the coating orimpreguating substance when the cigarettes are withdrawn from said substance. The immersing of thecigarettes is done by simply lowering the frame 25, carrying the holder 15 and the cigarettes, until the ends of the cigarettes are dipped into the coating or impregnatingsubstance the proper distance to form a suitable mouthpiece, (indicated at 21 in Fig. 3.)

By employing plates as the temporary cover- 'ing.

ing to close the cigarettes their removal is readily eifected. Besides, there is not any likelihood of any deleterious or contaminating effect on the tobacco, as might possibly result were other devices, materials, or substances employed to form the temporary cover- It will be understood, however, that I do not limit myself to the use of plates. The impregnating material used may be a solution of shellac in alcohol.

Having thus described my invention, 'I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The method of producing a mouthpiece on an open-ended cigarette, consisting in applying to an end thereof a temporary covering which is separate from the cigarette, then applying to the cigarette-wrapper while the covering is in place thereon,a substance which will harden on the wrapper and form a mouthpiece, and then removing the temporary covering.

2. The method of producing a mouthpiece on an open-ended cigarette, consistingin covering the cigarette end and moistening the end of the wrapper, applying to said wrapper a substance which will harden thereon, and then removing the covering.

3. The method of forming a mouthpiece on an open-ended cigarette, consisting in applying to an end of the cigarette a closure-plate, dipping the cigarette, with the closure-plate in place, into a substance which will harden on the cigarette-wrapper, withdrawing from the substance the cigarette with theclosureplate in place, and then removing said plate from the cigarette.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, LEWIS H. SONDHEIM.

Witnesses:

CORNELIUS POOLE, CAESAR POOLE. 

